iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: is it time to upgrade?
How much difference does two generations make?
· TechRadarVersus By James Rogerson published 8 October 2024
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iPhone 16 Pro Max
The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a huge screen, excellent cameras, a handy Camera Control button, a powerful chipset, and the promise of AI. It's a superb flagship but it comes at a high price.
For
- Huge screen
- Supports AI
- Camera Control functionality
Against
- Very expensive
- Very big
iPhone 14 Pro Max
The iPhone 14 Pro Max is a slightly smaller, less powerful phone than the iPhone 16 Pro Max, with worse cameras and battery life, and lacking some features, but it still holds up well.
For
- Lower price
- Similar screen to 16 Pro Max
- Still very powerful
Against
- Only 3x zoom
- No AI
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is Apple’s latest and greatest phone, and if you’re rocking an iPhone 14 Pro Max you might be looking jealously at owners of Apple’s newest Max handset.
But is it worth upgrading from your two-year-old phone to the iPhone 16 Pro Max? Or – if you don’t have either – is there any point in still buying an iPhone 14 Pro Max now? To help you answer those questions, we’ve compared these two phones in full below.
And if you want detailed hands-on impressions, check out our full iPhone 16 Pro Max review and our full iPhone 14 Pro Max review.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: specs comparison
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Before we look in detail at the specs and features of these two phones, here’s an overview just of their key specs, so you can see how they compare at a glance.
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| Header Cell - Column 0 | iPhone 16 Pro Max | iPhone 14 Pro Max |
|---|---|---|
| Display: | 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR OLED | 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED |
| Resolution: | 1320 x 2868 | 1290 x 2796 |
| Refresh rate: | Adaptive 1-120hz | Adaptive 1-120hz |
| Chipset: | A18 Pro | A16 Bionic |
| Rear cameras: | 48MP (main), 48MP (ultra-wide), 12MP (telephoto with 5x optical zoom) | 48MP (main), 12MP (ultra-wide), 12MP (telephoto with 3x optical zoom) |
| Front camera: | 12MP | 12MP |
| RAM: | 8GB | 6GB |
| Storage: | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| Battery: | 4,685mAh (unofficial) | 4,323mAh (unofficial) |
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: price and availability
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The iPhone 16 Pro Max was unveiled on September 9, 2024, and shipped on September 20, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max landed two years earlier, in September of 2022. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is widely available, but Apple has discontinued the iPhone 14 Pro Max, so new units are increasingly hard to find.
As for the price, the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149, for which you get 256GB of storage. At the top end, a model with 1TB of storage costs $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,849.
Officially the iPhone 14 Pro Max retails for a starting price of $1,099 / £1,199 / AU$1,899, for which you’ll get a 128GB model. That’s $100 / AU$250 less than the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts for, though it costs the same in the UK.
But that’s for less storage. A comparable 256GB iPhone 14 Pro Max cost $1,199 / £1,309 / AU$2,099, which was the same price as the 256GB iPhone 16 Pro Max in the US, but £110 more in the UK and AU$50 less in Australia.
At the top end, a 1TB iPhone 14 Pro Max originally cost $1,599 / £1,740 / AU$2,769. That’s the same as a 1TB iPhone 16 Pro Max in the US, but £140 more in the UK, and AU$80 less in Australia.
Of course, this is a two-year-old phone, so actual prices can be a lot lower – if you can even find it new. In reality, you won’t be paying anywhere near as much for an iPhone 14 Pro Max as an iPhone 16 Pro Max.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: design and display
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The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a broadly similar design to the iPhone 14 Pro Max, with both having a flat screen, a Dynamic Island, and a similar triple-lens camera block. Both also have a glass back and a metal frame, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max uses titanium, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a stainless steel frame.
The newer phone also has smaller bezels, an Action button rather than a mute switch, and the addition of a Camera Control button.
The colors differ too, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max colors including Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, and Desert Titanium, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max was offered in Space Black, Silver, Gold, and Deep Purple. And their dimensions and weights also differ, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max being 163 x 77.6 x 8.3mm and 227g, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max is 160.7 x 77.6 x 7.9mm and 240g. So the iPhone 16 Pro Max is taller and thicker yet lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The reason for the iPhone 16 Pro Max being taller is its screen, which is also larger at 6.9 inches. This is a 1320 x 2868 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, 460 pixels per inch, and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits.
On the iPhone 14 Pro Max you get a 6.7-inch 1290 x 2796 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, 460 pixels per inch, and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. So it’s mostly only the size that differs.
These are both excellent screens in any case. In our iPhone 16 Pro Max review we described the display as “one of the best in the smartphone game”, and we were similarly impressed by the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s screen.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: cameras
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The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a better camera than the iPhone 14 Pro Max in a number of ways. The newer phone has a 48MP f/1.8 main camera, a 48MP f/2.2 ultra-wide (that doubles as a macro camera), a 12MP f/2.8 telephoto with 5x optical zoom, and a 12MP f/1.9 front-facing camera. It can also shoot video in up to 4K quality at 120fps.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max has a 48MP f/1.8 main camera, a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, a 12MP f/2.8 telephoto (with 3x optical zoom), and a 12MP f/1.9 front-facing camera, as well as the ability to shoot in up to 4K quality at up to 60fps.
So it has fewer megapixels in its ultra-wide camera, a shorter range telephoto snapper, and it can’t match the frames per seconds that the iPhone 16 Pro Max can shoot 4K videos in. There are other smaller differences too, such as the option to shoot 24MP photos with the main camera on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which you can’t do with the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
You also have a Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is a physical key you can use to launch the camera, take photos, change lenses and zoom distance, and tweak settings. With the iPhone 14 Pro Max all of this has to be handled with the touchscreen.
Of the new phone’s camera we said that “the Camera Control might be a game changer,” while in our iPhone 14 Pro Max review we noted that the phone can capture “beautiful images.” So both phones are great for photography, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max is undoubtedly the better of the two.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: performance
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Neither of these phones is slow, as even the iPhone 14 Pro Max with its A16 Bionic chipset and 6GB of RAM feels speedy in operation. But the iPhone 16 Pro Max is two generations ahead, with a faster A18 Pro chipset and 8GB of RAM.
The A18 Pro has an up to 30% faster CPU and 40% faster GPU than the A16 Bionic, so it’s a significant upgrade – one that should help this phone stay future proofed for longer.
It’s also an upgrade that – along with the extra RAM – allows the iPhone 16 Pro Max to make use of Apple Intelligence, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max won’t get any of Apple’s AI features.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: battery
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The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 4,685mAh battery, making it slightly larger than the 4,323mAh battery in the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
In practice, Apple claims the iPhone 16 Pro Max can keep going for up to 33 hours of video playback or up to 105 hours of audio playback, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max can last for up to 29 hours of video or up to 95 hours of audio. So you should get a bit of a boost with the newer phone, though we were impressed with the battery life of both in our reviews.
Reports suggest the iPhone 16 Pro Max also charges faster, though Apple’s official claim is that both phones can reach a 50% charge in 30 minutes with a 20W adapter or higher.
Oh, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a USB-C port, while with the iPhone 14 Pro Max you’ll be charging via a Lightning port.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: verdict
Two years is, just about, still a long time in the world of smartphones, as you can see with the differences between these two handsets.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a larger screen, a new material for its frame, two new buttons, a far more powerful chipset, more RAM, upgrades to both the ultra-wide and telephoto cameras, better battery life, a USB-C port, and support for Apple Intelligence – which the iPhone 14 Pro Max doesn’t have.
That said, the actual screen quality is similar, as are their main and front-facing cameras, and their designs. And while the new phone is more powerful, outside of AI you might struggle to tell much difference.
Still, unless you find the iPhone 14 Pro Max heavily discounted there’s probably little reason to buy it now, and if you already have one, the iPhone 16 Pro Max should make for a meaningful – if perhaps inessential – upgrade.
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